The core gameplay of this is like one of the big enemy jungle outposts of MGS3 on steroids but instead of the deep stealth mechanics they went for the Crackdown experience of "unga unga smash shoot kill" and adding in a Predator suit. It's very simplistic but there's a lot of room to fuck around and have fun.

Now here's the thing: if it were just that, it would be a pretty fun seasonal FPS, but it's also a technical marvel. Even 15+ years after it released, it still holds up remarkably well, and I don't mean it just in terms of graphical power, but also in terms of spectacle and scale.

Kind of one of the last of its breed, Crysis is not an open world game, but rather a game with linear progression in big open areas. So you get all the action freedom, the liberating sense of chaos, and the wow factor of a big open space with interesting geography, without all the downsides of repeating the same areas time and time again, cheating your way out of situations via open world trickery, boring filler sidequests... It's a cohesive experience with a beginning and an end, with some predetermined big dumb and fun setpieces of a good blockbuster experience.

It also doesn't overstay its welcome, and, when things start to get samey, the game just flips the script around and plays the alien invasion card and rides it to the very end to deliver a big dumb cathartic ending. The alien part of the experience is universally considered the worst designed part of the game, and it is, but its spectacle helps to deliver a grander-than-life finale. Not quite to the standards of Halo 2 and onwards, but the change of dynamic from OP nanosuit gameplay to "I can't barely keep up with these alien assholes" really sells this idea that everything is going to shit.

I don't know. Even with its status of "glorified tech demo" there's a lot to like here. It's a pretty simple straightforward experience with not much depth, but there's not a whole lot that does wrong outside some nasty bugs here and there, a derpy AI and a weaker third act. It could be better by virtue of adding more stuff, having more enemy types, an actual plot, better designed close-quarters encounters... but as-it-is, it's still good shit and still very fresh...

...at least on hard mode. Some reviews here read like they just jumped in easy or normal and just didn't engage at all in the mechanics of the game that shine only when you have some decent opposition and you're forced to be creative. It's not their fault or anything, their experience is perfectly valid and a testament that some games only show their strong points in certain difficulties. Kind of a shame, but it is what it is.

Jesuschrist Swery. Let me get this straight:

1) I backed a game on a pitch that ended up being way different from the end product
2) The results were unsatisfactory and frustrating because the game itself is built on top of a whole lot of unsatisfactory and frustrating systems
3) The story was very weak.
4) The ending was piss. Literally.
5) Almost two years later when everyone has moved on, you complain about people complaining about paying for DLC, and that's the way you somehow decide to announce DLC for your game.
6) You advertise it as a whole reveal of the secrets behind Rainy Woods and let everyone hooked on the expectation that it might involve some kind of proper ending or story.
7) Kickstarter backers don't get it
8) 10 bucks, no new assets
9) The few new missions are ass.
10) The supposed revelations about the secret of Rainy Woods are half-assed and come way too late to be of any kind of significance in the story.
11) This might not be the last DLC???
12) TEN BUCKS??????

Nah, this ain't it chief. This ain't it at all.

Sometimes its reputation is a bit overblown, but it is a damn good game nonetheless.

That is until the final boss. Jeez. Sigma's dog and Sigma phase 1 are very tedious, and Sigma phase 2 is just a pain in the ass. I did the whole game without subtanks but that last phase basically forces you to get them to have a chance at even learning what to do. But the most aggravating part is that each time you want to try again, you still need to go through Sigma's dog and phase 1 which, I repeat, aren't difficult but they are tedious as hell.

Very dumb way to end the game

It took me 3 hours of toying around every setting imaginable through the game's screen modes, the config.ini file, the Nvidia control panel, and even Steam launch parameters, but I finally got the SNES games to work decently.

While I feel like this is a perfectly good option when everything's properly set up, I still feel like bsnes + overclock might be the superior option with a bit less input lag, better performance, savestates, and none of the controller detection issues. It even features a total amount of 0 configuration headaches (3 hours!).

To add insult to injury, modders have found a way to extract the SNES ROMs from the collection, so if you want to go the bsnes route you can do it legally too.

However, the rest of the collection works like a dream even in default settings, to the point I'm wondering if it's even emulated at all. It makes playing on original hardware obsolete unless you get a hard on for spending money on very middling and expensive retro games.

It's bizarre, because X1-3 are the most well-remembered entries, so one would've thought that Capcom must have put the most effort into them, but it's the other way around.

EDITS I MAKE AS I GO THROUGH THE COLLECTION:
-I kinda wish The Day of Sigma had the original Japanese dub instead of the English one. I wish there was also an English undub version. It's a minor complain in the grand scheme of things tho considering they do provide the Japanese versions and Day of Sigma at all

🟢 Uses minimal force and avoids aggression despite his life being on the line
🟢 Cute as a button
🟡 Despite fighting organized crime, the items suggest he's merely recovering bourgeois property.
🟡 Did he really get into the cats' building without backup?
🔴 He's a cop
🔴 Cat's name is Nyamco and I love him

I'm a bit on the fence in the Mappy ACAB debate, but the game is a lot of fun.

House of Ashes and The Quarry convinced me that Supermassive are capable of making more than just very well produced Z-tier horror movies, so it's a shame that The Devil In Me is such a step down in terms of direction and fun.

It's kind of a non-specific blend between a Saw movie and very generic slasher movie of old, but not taking full advantage of either side. The character writting reverted back to the quality of Little Hope, which is to say that no one is really interesting. The best part about it is without a doubt some real-life elements, accompanied by an unlockable real documentary of said events (which I thought was really neat, thank you Supermassive), and the villain's backstory told throughout all the hidden items and some setpieces. In fact, it came to a point where I was asking myself what was the point of telling the main story at all when the side stuff easily overshadowed the actual game.

It wasn't horrible or anything except some points where there was a clear disregard of common sense by the characters (but then again, it is a Z tier movie so I kinda expected it). It was just... uninteresting and unpolished.

I'll give it credit for one thing tho, Supermassive is finally adding puzzles and other mechanics. They are going at a snails pace, but you know, maybe by 2030 they will actually be able to make a game with gameplay.

Honestly, I've played it multiple times and I feel like it hits the same notes and design sensibilities of some of the best Crash Bandicoot levels, in fact I find all of these levels superior to Coco's tiger autorunner stages in Crash 3. It's also way more difficult and that will be a turnoff for most people, but you know, true art isn't meant for everyone.

Of course you can dislike it or be weirded out by it, I think the games knows that and it never pretends to be anything more than a well-executed joke but... it's a well-executed joke that's also very fun. Call it lighting in a bottle, but this is one of the best autorunners of all time and some truly ahead-of-the-curve shit, only rivaled by something like Penguin Adventure.

Love the story developments, I kinda feel bad for Yuko for being dragged into these fantasy Civil War shenanigans without knowing a thing. The cutscenes are great, the sprites aren't that great but they do the job, and the music has some stellar moments.

However the game itself is just not good. The first two stages are pretty simple and awkward but, you know, they are doable. They aren't that taxing if you're constantly blasting your weapons, and you can turn off your brain while you let the music carry the moment.

Stage 3 tho? I noped the fuck out. It's bad. I gave it a good try but it's just too obnoxious. Spongy enemies, awkward spots, very plain presentation and level design... I'm sorry, I can't. I watched the rest through YouTube, it's just not worth it.

A big shame tho, I really fuck with the game in a spiritual way. I love the universe it's building, the pathos the characters are going through, the dramatic scenes, the surreal and psychedelic aesthetics... but gameplay-wise it's just... no.

Being completely honest, this was a very run-of-the-mill 16 bit action platformer and with its own fair share of bullshit and I wouldn't recommend it easily... HOWEVER

I dunno, it's very charming and endearing in its use of 80s fantasy anime aesthetics and the few scenes with Reiko's VA (which did a GREAT job) just help to elevate this from an average title to something memorable. Even with some rough spots, the game doesn't overstay its welcome, it's well paced, the Continue system is permissive enough, the weapon system was fun to use (and abuse), and the well crafted sprites with the well executed music made for an interesting couple of gameplay sessions. And when the credits rolled I couldn't help but have a smile on my face.

If you want a game with well crafted meticulous level design, this isn't it. But if you're a sucker for this era of fantasy anime aesthetics and you're in for a simple straightforward sidescroller, give it a try.